White House denies $400 million payment to Iran was ransom for hostages
(Worthy News) – The Obama administration insisted Wednesday that its airlift of $400 million in cash to Iran in January wasn’t ransom for the release of five imprisoned Americans, while Republican lawmakers called the move appeasement and demanded that Secretary of State John F. Kerry turn over documents and testify before Congress.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest denied repeatedly that the cash payment was ransom.
“No, it was not. It is against the policy of the United States to pay ransom for hostages,” he said.
Some top Republican lawmakers said the payment, delivered in stacks of foreign currency on wooden pallets in an unmarked cargo plane about the same time Iran released the Americans, was too coincidental to pass the smell test. [ Source ]
Fox News’ Charles Krauthammer Slams Deal
Krauthammer said, “It was illegal. It isn’t only the optics. It isn’t only that they are just looking ridiculous in denying that it was a quid pro quo. Obviously, it wasn’t a coincidence. The reason that it was objected to by Justice, there is a statute that prohibits us from engaging in Iran dealing with dollars. So, they had to print the money here, ship it over to Switzerland, turn it into Swiss francs and euros and ship it over to Iran. If a private company had done this, this is called money laundering. The CEO would be in jail right now.”
He added, “The reason it was concealed is because it’s illegal. That’s why Congress wasn’t notified, because it’s scandalous for the administration to explicitly defy a law that says you can’t deal in American currency. And the second thing is, it isn’t only that it encourages terrorism in the future, it’s that the money is in cash. Why in cash? Because that you can’t trace it. It’s going to go straight to Hezbollah, straight to Hamas, straight to terrorists in Iraq.” [ Video: Source ]